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Monthly Archives: June 2014

“In 2003, under the pretext of a war on terror, the US invaded Iraq. Eleven years later, it is the Jihadists of ISIS who can say “mission accomplished.” Iraq and Syria are in ruins, soaked with the blood of several hundred thousand people, and millions of their nationals are scattered to the wind as refugees. ”http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/06/24/the-rise-of-isis/

“Isis regards Shia as apostates or heretics who have betrayed the faith and deserve death. Where Shia cannot defend themselves they have fled, in places such as Tal Afar, with a population of 300,000 Shia Turkoman, west of Mosul where fighting is still going on. Isis is primarily an anti-Shia movement in Iraq and Syria, its violent sectarianism so extreme that it was one of the reasons why it was criticised by al-Qa’ida. There are reports the few Shia who lived in Mosul and stayed have been given 24 hours to convert to Sunni Islam or die.”http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/06/24/the-cracking-of-iraq/

“Witnesses on the ground in Iraq say that multiple groups with significant political differences have set those divisions aside to unite against the sectarian government of Nouri Al-Maliki. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is one of those groups, but they are playing a smaller role.[14] Mosul and Tal Afar are in the hands of the General Military Council of the Iraqi Revolutionaries, liberated from Maliki’s brutal sectarian rule. Only a strong, coordinated military organization—not 1000 or even several thousand undisciplined extremists—could take and hold a city the size of Mosul (1.4 million) and continue to advance.”http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/06/20/keep-calm-and-trust-iraqis-with-iraq/

“An overwhelming Shia Muslim majority is ruled by a Sunni Muslim royal family who bestow privileged, expedited citizenship on (Sunni) foreign nationals. These non-Bahrainis are then employed in the security sector to enforce authoritarian rule and skew the island’s demographics…“
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“In the last two years scores of children have been arrested and detained in connection with ongoing anti-government protests in predominantly Shi’a towns and villages in Bahrain. In a number of cases children have reportedly been tortured or otherwise ill-treated to force them to sign “confessions” which were then used in court to incriminate them and others.”
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“The demolition of Shia mosques occurred right at the onset of the government’s crackdown, numbering over 30 in just a few months. This included the historic, 400-year-old Amir Mohammed Barbagi Mosque which was completely leveled. ”

<<“The spokesman…said in a phone interview from Daraa that Al-Nusra’s higher salaries and high-quality weapons have spurred many local FSA soldiers to break ranks and join the Islamist group. He estimated that 80 percent of Al-Nusra’s fighting force in Daraa is currently comprised of Syrians, and the other 20 percent of foreign fighters.

“The US-backed government in Kiev, however, denied firing on civilians and blamed the blast on the anti-Kiev self-defense forces. The self-defense units, Kiev claimed, had blown up the administration building themselves with a heat-seeking missile that went awry.

The US mainstream media dutifully reported the Kiev government line as fact. The anti-Kiev forces had blown up their own headquarters, they wrote. Just as several weeks ago they wrote that the anti-Kiev forces in Odessa had set themselves on fire.

Dozens of videos on social media clearly showed Kiev-sent aircraft firing into cities and civilian centers in eastern Ukraine. The US mainstream media ignored this evidence and continued to repeat the Kiev line that the pro-autonomy forces had again massacred themselves.”
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“There has been no US government condemnation of the use of the Ukrainian military against Ukraine’s own population in crowded civilian city centers. In fact the US State Department has actually encouraged the post-coup government in Ukraine to use force against civilians. State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said of the violence that the authorities in Kiev “have every right” to maintain “order and stability in their own country.””

“Aleppo has borne the brunt of rebel anger, as shells and rockets fired from their positions in the east of the city fell heavy as rain in the days leading up to the vote, and continue to do so as I write this and as the voting gets under way. The mayhem and slaughter is unprecedented in the regime areas as hundreds of shells left no neighborhood unmolested. Streets became deserted as people stayed indoors and shops closed, hoping to avoid random death from above. Of course, dozens were not so lucky, and the civilian death toll from just two days of rebel shelling stood at over 50, with scores more wounded and large areas devastated, especially in the Midan neighborhood, an Armenian quarter adjacent to the Bustan al-Basha rebel stronghold. The scenes of death and carnage, especially among children. were so shocking and horrific that even staunchly pro-opposition groups had to speak out against them and demand they stop.

Yet, the bombs ceaselessly continue to fall, claiming even more lives as students attended exams at colleges and schools where ballot boxes were placed”

“The real competitor for the local administrations is considered to be with the Syrian regime. The regime continues to spend nearly $3 billion a year on employees’ salaries, something that the local administrations and the development budgets cannot do. The regime pays the salaries of employees in all areas, without exception, even in areas outside its control. This means that many employees and their families are still subordinated, in one way or another, to the central government.”